Watercraft manufacturers attempt to design their watercraft so as to prevent water from entering the hull. Regardless of these attempts, during operation of the watercraft, some water will enter the watercraft either through the air intakes for the engine, the engine compartment ventilation openings, an improper seal between two elements of the watercraft, or some other opening. Water entering the hull, if left unaddressed, may cause some elements normally found inside the hull, such as electronics or the engine, to malfunction, could cause corrosion, and, in extreme cases, may compromise the buoyancy of the watercraft.
To address this problem, watercraft manufacturers typically use two devices. The first one is a drain assembly located on the hull to drain the water out of the watercraft hull when the watercraft is removed from the water, such as when it is placed in dry docks for repair, placed in storage, or placed on a trailer to move it from one body of water to another. The second device is a bailer or a pump used to remove the water from the watercraft hull when the watercraft is on a body of water.
FIGS. 2A to 3B illustrate a prior art drain assembly 36. The drain assembly 36 is attached to the hull 10 so as to create a passage between an interior and the exterior of the hull 10. This is done by fastening a flange 39 of the drain assembly 36 to the transom 12 by using fasteners 35 placed through holes 38 found in the flange 39. The drain assembly 36 is located as low as possible on the transom 12 in order to maximize the amount of water that can be drained from the hull 10. The drain assembly 36 essentially consists of a cylindrical drain body 37 which is opened at both ends. One end of the drain body (the outlet) communicates with the exterior of the hull 10 and the other end (the inlet) communicates with the interior of the hull 10. A removable plug 30 is placed in the outlet to prevent water from entering the hull 10 when the watercraft 8 is in the water since the drain assembly 36, due to its location, is normally below the waterline 13. To drain the hull 10 when the watercraft 8 is outside the water, the plug 30 is removed and any water which is above the inlet is drained to the exterior of the hull 10. A restraint 34, connected to the plug 30, links the plug 30 to the drain body 37 when it is removed therefrom to prevent the loss of the plug 30. A check valve in the form of a ball 33 is placed inside the drain body 37. Should a user of the watercraft 8 forget to replace the plug 30 in its position in the drain body 37 when the watercraft 8 is put back in a body of water, the water pressure pushes the ball 33 towards the inlet to seal it, thus preventing water from entering the hull 10. However, since the inlet has a smaller diameter than the outlet, the ball does not prevent the flow of water from the inlet of the drain body 37 to the outlet of the drain body 37. The restraint 34 prevents the ball 33 from falling out of the outlet.
FIG. 4 illustrates a prior art bailer system. A pair of bailers 22 having holes 42 are attached to the bottom of the hull 10 by using belts 20 and fasteners 21. The bailers 22 are located in the locations where water is most likely to pool inside the hull 10. The bailers 22 are connected to a jet pump 18 of the watercraft 8 though a series of hoses 23 and elbows 25 held together by tie wraps 24. When the watercraft 8 is in operation, the water passing through the jet pump 18 at high speed creates a low pressure which is used by the bailers 22 to aspirate water located near them through the holes 42. The water then flows through the hoses 23 and is expelled in the jet pump 18. Check valves 32 are placed between hoses 23 to prevent water from entering the hull 10 via the bailers 22. Other prior art bailer systems use electrical or mechanical pumps to aspirate water through the bailers 22.
The drain assembly 36 and the bailers 22 described above can both remove water from the hull of a watercraft, however the drain assembly 36 can only be used when the watercraft is outside the water, and the bailers 22 can only be used when the watercraft is operational (in the case where the suction from the jet pump is used) or when the pump attached to the bailers is operational. For this reason, most watercraft are equipped with both a drain and a bailer system. This dual system approach creates a lot of parts which need to be assembled, which ultimately increases the cost of the watercraft.
Therefore, there is a need for a different device for draining water from the hull of a watercraft.